Black Sesame Macarons

Macarons. One of the French recipes that I find tough to master. Only through trial and error was I able to bake up a decent batch. I remember the first time I tried making them, without any tips and tricks from the experts, and they ended up a tray of super sweet almond cookies. They didn't even LOOK like macarons, because a) they're too brown and b) no 'feet'! :'( The 'feet' is most crucial part of a macaron. It's what makes it a macaron, instead of a common meringue. They're basically the ridges that formed along the edge of a macaron.

So a year or two ago, my aunt invited me to this baking class and finally, FINALLY, I get to learn how to bake up those meringue sandwiches properly! I learnt tips like leaving your egg whites in the fridge for 3 days before use, making sure the icing sugar you use has 2% cornstarch in it, and not over-stirring your batter. They should be...lava-like. If you cut a line in the batter and the line closes up in 30 seconds, it's good to go. Under-stirring your batter and you'll end up with cracked and lumpy macarons. Over-stirring them and they'll spread easily because by then the batter becomes too thin. In the middle of baking those macarons, you'll have to turn your pans in the oven to have even baking, but I'm too lazy to do that every time I bake them, so I skipped the step :P Also, while crushing your almonds in a food processor, when it's in a fine powder form, it's done, no more whirring, otherwise the oil will be extracted from the almonds and we'll end up with almond butter instead :/

 My first ever successful batch of macarons <3 pink, perky and feet-on!

At one point I lost the recipe given by teacher so I had to research the recipe :/ That's how I came across Entertainment with Beth for the first time :D

I like her recipes. Plus, she's great at explaining the steps, making everything else a lot easier to understand and less intimidating to try out. She did mention not to underbake the macarons, but 20 minutes for my oven is just too long. I had added food coloring to my batch to make them pink like hers, but 20 minutes later the color faded to brown :( so yeah, 15 minutes it is. 

I filled these with Nutella filling :D I tried peanut butter, but chocolate is always the best <3 I also find that eating the meringue cookies alone and without the filling is a bit too sweet to taste, due to the high amount of sugar they contain, but when you fill them, the filling just takes away most of the sweetness and gives them its flavour instead.

A month later, I happen to have a bag of black sesame seeds. And leftover icing sugar. Googling, I found out that ground almonds are not the only ingredient for macarons. Lo and behold, a batch of black sesame macarons were born...and eaten :P

I regret not taking a picture of the piped macarons before they hit the oven. With the ground black sesame seeds dotting the white batter, they really look like smooth pebbles. Beth was right about not under-baking these babies, because they will stick to the parchment paper and risk detaching their 'feet'. 

One thing I hate when preparing the macaron batter is sifting the ground nuts, be it almonds or sesame seeds, because you may end up with more chunks than powder and that takes up more time to sift them, and you may have to grind them up again == Really took up my time.

I had a jar of black sesame spread handy for the filling. The spread just enhances that black sesame flavour. Really was the best macarons I had baked up so far. I'm really lazy to make them again though, haha. I don't wanna think about the sifting *shudder*

I do think black sesame seeds are way better than almonds, because they're less chunky than almonds. Plus they make the macarons look extra special :D

So here's the recipe, which I've modified a teeny bit from Beth. Enjoy baking!

Black Sesame Macarons

Makes 24 sandwiched macarons

3 egg whites (after storing them in the fridge for 1-3 days, before using them, remember to bring them to room temperature)

50g white sugar

200g confectioner's sugar

120g ground black sesame seeds

a pinch of salt

1/4 tsp cream tartar (you can omit this, but it'll take the egg whites a longer time to reach the stiff peaks form)

A drop of food colouring (optional)

Method:

While waiting for your egg whites to come to room temperature, ground up your black sesame seeds in a food processor and sift them along with the powdered sugar in a bowl. Once you're done, set that bowl aside.

Next, in a clean bowl, with a clean whisk (or a clean electric mixer, we don't want any grease in our batter), beat the egg whites until they are foamy, then add salt, cream of tartar and white sugar and whisk them for 8-10 minutes until you get stiff peaks that stand upright. One trick to finding out if your egg whites have stiff peaks is to tip your bowl upside down. If nothing drops off, you're good to go.

If you want, at this point, you can add your food colouring. I learned the hard way when I added food coloring AFTER I folded in the ground almonds and icing sugar. Well, DON'T, because if your batter is lava-like already and you continue to stir it with the addition of food colouring, over-stirring occurs and the batter will spread easily :( So do it before adding in the ground black sesame seeds and confectioner's sugar!

Fold the sifted ground black sesame seeds and confectioner's sugar into the egg mixture at about 67-75 turns of your spatula. Once your batter is lava-like, transfer it to a pastry bag.

Pipe out 1 inch rounds on a piece of parchment paper over your baking tray. Tap the pan hard 2-3 times to let the air bubbles out. Let them sit for 2-30 minutes or an hour.

Preheat your oven at 150*C and bake your macarons for 15-20 minutes. Remember, do not under bake! 

Once your macarons are cooled, spread one with black sesame seed spread and sandwich it with the other! Then serve~